The Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, and New Orleans Pelicans all jump into our top tier, while the Houston Rockets look a little less like title contenders after a week of action.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Houston Rockets | 1-3 | 57.1 | 2 | -8 |
| 9 | San Antonio Spurs | 2-2 | 58.5 | 4 | -5 |
| 8 | Philadelphia 76ers | 2-3 | 59.0 | 7 | -1 |
| 7 | Milwaukee Bucks | 4-0 | 59.7 | 13 | 6 |
| 6 | Boston Celtics | 3-2 | 60.2 | 3 | -3 |
| 5 | Denver Nuggets | 4-1 | 60.7 | 15 | 10 |
| 4 | Indiana Pacers | 3-2 | 63.7 | 10 | 6 |
| 3 | New Orleans Pelicans | 3-0 | 66.1 | 12 | 9 |
| 2 | Toronto Raptors | 5-0 | 70.2 | 5 | 3 |
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | 4-1 | 76.0 | 1 | 0 |
Risers
Giannis Antetokounmpo's MVP case is off to a good start with his Milwaukee Bucks starting the season 4-0 with a third-ranked point differential of 11.0. It also helps that within those four games, they have blown out two other teams in this top tier -- the Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers. They have tough tests coming up over the next few days against other Eastern Conference contenders in the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics, so we should have a good idea of how real this hot start is by this time next week.
The Denver Nuggets are one of the most pleasant surprises of the young season. Up until a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, the Nuggets were undefeated through four games, most notably handing Golden State its one loss to date. They are fifth in the league in point differential at 9.2 and have the league's third-ranked defense with a 103.0 defensive rating. They are the biggest riser in our rankings this week, leaping from 15th all the way to 5th.
Speaking of MVP cases, Anthony Davis is going to be hard to deny for the award if his New Orleans Pelicans keep playing this well. They are undefeated at 3-0, with their most notable victory being a blowout of the Houston Rockets in Houston for their opening game. The Pelicans are one of the fastest teams in the Association with a third-ranked pace of 106.0 possessions per 48 minutes, and they lead the league in both offensive rating at a blistering 124.6 and margin of victory at 15.3.
Fallers
Last year, the Houston Rockets were considered the biggest competition for the Golden State Warriors when it came to title chances. They had a fairly mediocre offseason (unless you consider losing Trevor Ariza and adding Carmelo Anthony a good thing), but we still had them at number two to start the season last week. Since then, they've gone 1-3 and have plummeted to 10th in our rankings. They're 19th in offensive rating (107.8), 21st in defensive rating (113.7), and 23rd in margin of victory (-6.0), leaving little positive to hold onto at this point. They'll need to do some work to reestablish their contender status and it might be tough with a five-game road trip starting this time next week.